January 2 Day 1395: I Thought We Were Done

I haven’t been very good at posting for the last year–only 31 posts for all of 2023. I have been reflecting on why:

1. The corona virus is still around and we all make allowances for it, but it is no longer the driving force for innovation, change, or exhaustion.
2. My teaching has returned to in-person. I still record class using Zoom (as it is my preferred method for projecting my iPad notes to the room) and allow the option for students to attend remotely in extenuating circumstances. Exceptions are infrequent. 
3. I continue to innovate in my classroom, experimenting with ways to build community—but we are no longer in isolation. It is harder to write about successes (or failures) when seeing students face-to-face regularly. It feels like a violation of their privacy.

So what drove me to write tonight?

My husband tested positive for COVID this morning and it has thrown a wrench into all of our plans.  He feels mostly fine (thank goodness)—just enough off that he thought to test himself this morning. So he is isolating in our bedroom (which doubles as his study) while I am in my study (now doubling as my bedroom). Rather than spending this evening with him, I am writing this post.

My sons and I tested negative. So at the crack of dawn tomorrow morning our youngest flies to San Francisco to attend the Joint Mathematics Meeting. I couldn’t be prouder of him.

I start teaching winter quarter classes on Thursday. I’m not ready. But I know somehow things will pull together. They always do. 

….and I just received notification of the first student of the quarter to test positive for COVID.

So for the immediate future, I will once again be thinking about math in a time of corona. Happy New Year one and all!